"Nobody wants to listen to left-wing radio."

[Jobber of the Week 0]

From the Chicago Tribune:

Franken factors in younger listeners

By John Cook

Tribune staff reporter

Published May 27, 2004

 

Despite ongoing financial woes, Air America Radio appears to have garnered a significant audience during its first month on the air, particularly among the younger listeners sought by advertisers.

 

An analysis of recently released figures from Arbitron, the radio ratings service, showed that in New York Air America beat Rush Limbaugh's station among 25-to-54-year-olds during the period that Limbaugh and Al Franken, the host of the flagship show "The O'Franken Factor," go head-to-head.

 

In Chicago, even though the network was available for only 28 days in April, Air America increased the average share of 25-to-54-year-old listeners on WNTD-950 AM from a 0.1 percent share in February to a 2 percent share in April.

 

Air America was pulled off WNTD-950 AM due to a billing dispute. The network is seeking a new home in Chicago.

 

"We're actually doing very well despite everything we've managed to do to ourselves," Franken said on Saturday in an address to the Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar in New York.

 

He was referring to the network's failure to meet payroll earlier this month and the departure of no fewer than six key executives in its first eight weeks on the air.

 

"If this is how we're doing now, imagine what things will be like when we actually know what we're doing," Franken said.

 

The April audience estimates, which are the first data indicating whether or not Air America's brand of liberal talk radio can find an audience, come from a third-party analysis of Arbitron data, called "extrapolations."

 

Insiders cautioned that, while it is standard to use extrapolations as a guide to the performance of a station, they are preliminary and prone to a certain margin of error.

 

"They're like a second-inning score in a baseball game," said Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, a trade publication. "But you have to say that the visitors are on the scoreboard."

 

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a period that includes Franken's show, WNTD pulled in 3 percent of 25-to-54-year-old listeners in Chicago. That number puts the fledgling network in the same league as WGN-720 AM, which scored a 2.1 percent share of the same demographic, according to the extrapolation of April figures. WLS-890 AM, which airs Rush Limbaugh during the same period, beat WNTD with a 4.8 share.

 

But in New York, where Air America still broadcasts over WLIB-1190 AM, the network beat Limbaugh's station, Disney-owned WABC, among both 25-to-54-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. period. In the 25-to-54 demographic, WLIB garnered a 3.4 share to WABC's 3.1; among 18-to-34-year-olds, WLIB won sevenfold with a 2.9 share to WABC's 0.4.

 

I await the barrage of excuses and interpretations.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

It's New York for starters. Not like it's hard to draw better than Rush in a liberal area.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

New York is a heavily populated area, and allegedly nobody is interested in left-wing radio in the first place, which is why I posted this.

[tommytomlin 0]

But that report came from the LIBERAL MEDIA!

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

which Chicago paper is the evil one again? I forget.. I think the Tribune is the one that makes you subscribe

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If your talking politics-wise, Chicago Tribune is the "evil conservative" one, I guess.

 

I await the barrage of excuses and interpretations.

 

Does "I don't care" count?

 

In addition, whenever I hear stuff like "The Bob show is second-highest in the 18-to-20 demographic" it usually tells me it's spin for an overall crappy rating/figure. BTW, while we're on this subject, why is it advertisers covet young people only? I mean, sure old people might be a slightly harder sell due to a probable case of them having more brand loyalty, but damn, so many of them are easily manupilated, and older demographics have more money.

 

Oh, yeah. Mikey Moore is fat -- forgot what folder I was in for a second...

[Guest MikeSC]

Well, that they had to use the 2 hours before Rush's broadcast begins to come up with this figure shows some weak logic. And that they attribute it to Franken --- who isn't on for those 2 hours, either, is even mroe laughable. And that Al isn't even getting PAID right now makes it the most laughable.

 

Oh, and color me SHOCKED that a talk radio station didn't draw amongst a college set. Truly, I'm STUNNED.

-=Mike

[TheBigSwigg 0]

BTW, while we're on this subject, why is it advertisers covet young people only?

Younger people supposedly have more disposable income(because you're living alone or for dirt cheap), and you also build the brand loyalty that makes it harder to sell to old people.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

As an aside, my old college advertising textbook said that Hispanics were very brand loyal, which is why companies bend over backwards to cater to immigrants...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Well, that they had to use the 2 hours before Rush's broadcast begins to come up with this figure shows some weak logic. And that they attribute it to Franken --- who isn't on for those 2 hours, either, is even mroe laughable. And that Al isn't even getting PAID right now makes it the most laughable.

 

Oh, and color me SHOCKED that a talk radio station didn't draw amongst a college set. Truly, I'm STUNNED.

-=Mike

Well, I wasn't fanning the flames of the Franken/Limbaugh fire, but simply addressing that "noone will want to listen to this" complaint of, oh, last month?

 

Of course, you've dodged the issue and harped on other points instead. Good for you!

[Guest MikeSC]

Well, that they had to use the 2 hours before Rush's broadcast begins to come up with this figure shows some weak logic. And that they attribute it to Franken --- who isn't on for those 2 hours, either, is even mroe laughable. And that Al isn't even getting PAID right now makes it the most laughable.

 

Oh, and color me SHOCKED that a talk radio station didn't draw amongst a college set. Truly, I'm STUNNED.

                -=Mike

Well, I wasn't fanning the flames of the Franken/Limbaugh fire, but simply addressing that "noone will want to listen to this" complaint of, oh, last month?

 

Of course, you've dodged the issue and harped on other points instead. Good for you!

What's the audience size?

Why can't they get new affiliates?

Why can't they afford to pay Franken?

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Why can't they afford to pay Franken?

George Soros' check hasn't cleared yet...

[Guest MikeSC]

Why can't they afford to pay Franken?

George Soros' check hasn't cleared yet...

Can't trust lunatics.

-=Mike

[Vyce 0]

Okay.....this "network" is on a ridiculously low number of radio stations around the country, a fraction of the stations that run Rush & Hannity & any other conservative blowhard, but since it's doing well in a FEW traditionally liberal markets (although, yes, NY is the largest radio market of them all), people are supposed to apologize?

 

I'm with kkk - I don't give a shit about this, but I think one should be asking for apologies only when "Air America" actually proves to be, say, a QUARTER as successful as Rush et al are today. And it's not even close.

[Guest MikeSC]

Okay.....this "network" is on a ridiculously low number of radio stations around the country, a fraction of the stations that run Rush & Hannity & any other conservative blowhard, but since it's doing well in a FEW traditionally liberal markets (although, yes, NY is the largest radio market of them all), people are supposed to apologize?

 

I'm with kkk - I don't give a shit about this, but I think one should be asking for apologies only when "Air America" actually proves to be, say, a QUARTER as successful as Rush et al are today. And it's not even close.

The network is nothing --- just as I figured.

 

I haven't spent all that much time checking on them --- if something is on Drudge's front page, I'll check it out.

 

If it died tomorrow and it wasn't mentioned on drudge or a few other news sites --- I'd never know.

 

It's had as much impact as Brock's site.

-=Mike

[Guest MikeSC]

From the Chicago Tribune:

Franken factors in younger listeners

By John Cook

Tribune staff reporter

Published May 27, 2004

 

Despite ongoing financial woes, Air America Radio appears to have garnered a significant audience during its first month on the air, particularly among the younger listeners sought by advertisers.

 

An analysis of recently released figures from Arbitron, the radio ratings service, showed that in New York Air America beat Rush Limbaugh's station among 25-to-54-year-olds during the period that Limbaugh and Al Franken, the host of the flagship show "The O'Franken Factor," go head-to-head.

 

In Chicago, even though the network was available for only 28 days in April, Air America increased the average share of 25-to-54-year-old listeners on WNTD-950 AM from a 0.1 percent share in February to a 2 percent share in April.

 

Air America was pulled off WNTD-950 AM due to a billing dispute. The network is seeking a new home in Chicago.

 

"We're actually doing very well despite everything we've managed to do to ourselves," Franken said on Saturday in an address to the Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar in New York.

 

He was referring to the network's failure to meet payroll earlier this month and the departure of no fewer than six key executives in its first eight weeks on the air.

 

"If this is how we're doing now, imagine what things will be like when we actually know what we're doing," Franken said.

 

The April audience estimates, which are the first data indicating whether or not Air America's brand of liberal talk radio can find an audience, come from a third-party analysis of Arbitron data, called "extrapolations."

 

Insiders cautioned that, while it is standard to use extrapolations as a guide to the performance of a station, they are preliminary and prone to a certain margin of error.

 

"They're like a second-inning score in a baseball game," said Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, a trade publication. "But you have to say that the visitors are on the scoreboard."

 

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a period that includes Franken's show, WNTD pulled in 3 percent of 25-to-54-year-old listeners in Chicago. That number puts the fledgling network in the same league as WGN-720 AM, which scored a 2.1 percent share of the same demographic, according to the extrapolation of April figures. WLS-890 AM, which airs Rush Limbaugh during the same period, beat WNTD with a 4.8 share.

 

But in New York, where Air America still broadcasts over WLIB-1190 AM, the network beat Limbaugh's station, Disney-owned WABC, among both 25-to-54-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. period. In the 25-to-54 demographic, WLIB garnered a 3.4 share to WABC's 3.1; among 18-to-34-year-olds, WLIB won sevenfold with a 2.9 share to WABC's 0.4.

 

I await the barrage of excuses and interpretations.

BUMP time. Remember this?

 

Well, time for the damper:

June 22, 2004 -- ENCOURAGING preliminary ratings for all-liberal Air America in New York have collapsed along with the fledgling radio network's finances.

 

An unofficial "extrapolation" of Arbitron data released last Friday — which Air America's hosts crowed about last month but virtually ignored yesterday — showed WLIB's ratings dropping back to their lowly levels before the net's April launch.

 

Arbitron cautions stations and advertisers not to read too much into this interim monthly data — but that didn't stop Air America star Al Franken from boasting last month that he'd beaten WABC's Rush Limbaugh among the 25- to 54-year-old listeners chased by radio advertisers.

 

Instead of ratings yesterday, Franken discussed a Wall Street Journal article that provided frightening details about alleged phantom finances — including purported promises of major backing from liberal moneybags Norman Lear and Larry David — that resulted in a near-complete shakeup of Air America's executive suite last month.

 

According to the article, many Air America investors thought the network had raised $30 million — when, in fact, only $6 million had been raised before the network launched.

 

"We have a new influx of cash coming up," said Franken, whose contract promises more than $1 million a year, according to the Journal.

 

"I am being paid now," he told listeners yesterday. "I've been paid for weeks."

 

Franken took issue with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly for interviewing a reporter last week who said Air America investors have been throwing money "down a rat hole."

 

"Fox News Channel lost $150 million in its first two years," Franken said. "That was a much bigger rathole than our rathole."

 

Air America president Jon Sinton, who declined comment through a spokesman yesterday, told The Post in April that it would be unfair to make too many judgments too soon.

 

"It takes a long time to develop a [talk radio] audience," Sinton said, echoing the sentiments of many talk radio experts. "This is a long-term project."

 

The lefty network, which hopes to counter the election-year influence of high-rated conservative talk radio, is still without affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago after noisy disputes over station lease payments.

 

Except for New York's WLIB (1190 AM), its 15 affiliates are in medium to small markets.

 

Fox News Channel is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post.

 

http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/goto/?...s%5Frecap%2Ehtm

Air America: We Can't Even Spin Well

-=Mike

[Vyce 0]

Jobber, comment?

 

To reiterate my earlier post in this thread: even if you WANT to argue that Air America is successful, it's WAY to early to start boasting.

[NoCalMike 0]

who cares, the station hasn't even been on a year. No radio show or network ever had instant ratings upon going on the air.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Jobber, comment?

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/D...D=07/16/04&CE=0

 

WLIB-AM          Inner City          Talk          1.1          1.1          1.1          1.3          1.4          1.4

 

A 1.4 to a 1.4. No change.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Yeah, supposedly the large numbers were a fluke.

Face it, when you're only in two major markets and can't keep your doods in line, you've got problems.

 

Air America was a decision based on wants, not on smart investment. They couldve done better elsewhere doing something.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

It's also based on shitty investors. See the WSJ story where certain people in positions of power claimed to have more money than they really did. When you're having lavish launch parties that your company is paying the tab for with it's futures but none of the employees are aware, you're entering a dot-com sized disaster unless somebody at the top goes.

 

Which is the case of that "OMG MAJOR MANAGERS LEAVE WHAT'S GONING ON" story a few months back.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

which is why Air America will be gone before the end of 05

[Jobber of the Week 0]

which is why Air America will be gone before the end of 05

"Fox News Channel lost $150 million in its first two years," Franken said. "That was a much bigger rathole than our rathole."

 

If you wish, I will bring the mustard to the '05 TSM COOK-OFF~! where we can all enjoy watching you eat your hat. Then again, I don't have years studying economics, but I wouldn't stake yours on this one if I were you.

[Guest Cerebus]

"Fox News Channel lost $150 million in its first two years," Franken said. "That was a much bigger rathole than our rathole."

Sorry Al. Google doesn't seem to be be aware of this.

 

If you have an actual link that tells me so I would believe it, but I couldn't find one. And while we're no the topic, OMGHOTAIRAMERICA~!: The pride of Southeastern Canada!

[Jobber of the Week 0]

If you have an actual link that tells me so I would believe it, but I couldn't find one.

http://www.cjr.org/year/98/2/fox.asp

 

For Murdoch, playing the FNC chip is a huge gamble. CNN, in its eighteenth year, is a pillar on the international news scene, and a cash cow for its owner, Time Warner -- the world's biggest media conglomerate. MSNBC is the privileged offspring of behemoth parents, GE and Microsoft. Those two cable networks were duking it out vigorously for a share of the relatively small all-news audience -- with CNN comfortably the world champ -- when FNC entered the ring as a brash challenger. It's looking at losses for the two years 1997 and 1998 of $150 million, and won't be operationally solvent (say its proprietors) until sometime in 2000, with years to go beyond that before News Corp. recoups its investment.

[Guest MikeSC]

Jobber, comment?

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/D...D=07/16/04&CE=0

 

WLIB-AM          Inner City          Talk          1.1          1.1          1.1          1.3          1.4          1.4

 

A 1.4 to a 1.4. No change.

You were the ones pimping the numbers. The numbers are no better than they were before this ratings black hole took to the air.

Air America was a decision based on wants, not on smart investment. They couldve done better elsewhere doing something.

Precisely what critics argued.

 

Again, if there was a DESIRE for liberal talk radio --- there'd BE liberal talk radio.

-=Mike

[Jobber of the Week 0]

You were the ones pimping the numbers. The numbers are no better than they were before this ratings black hole took to the air.

Perhaps you didn't see that the number there didn't change from last month. 1.4 vs 1.4.

[Guest MikeSC]

You were the ones pimping the numbers. The numbers are no better than they were before this ratings black hole took to the air.

Perhaps you didn't see that the number there didn't change from last month. 1.4 vs 1.4.

Apparently you missed the 1.3 from BEFORE Air America even took to the air.

 

ALL of the publicity it got. ALL of the press it received --- and WLIB's numbers are no better.

-=Mike

[Stephen Joseph 0]

If theyre around in 05, itll still be losing money.

Hey, do you think I think FOX NEWS losing 150 million was smart? No. Fox could have made a better return elsewhere.

 

Remember, I am not a conservative. I'm a libertarian economist. $ is the bottom line, and I care about getting the best return, politics be damned. If I could make a higher return investing into a Kerry T-Shirt than investing in the market or elsewhere, I would in a heartbeat.

 

I do not see droves investing into Air America. I do not see outside financial agencies investing into Air America. It is simply a very bad investment, an unproven concept with an unproven track record with very little market penetration. I do not see positive financial numbers. I care about their earnings reports, their potential earnings. Losing 2 out of your 4 markets is BAD for ANY firm trying to startup. SImply put, alot of startups fail very quickly.

 

Market penetration is EVERYTHING to advertisers. Listener participation doesn't matter. How many people can hear you when they're flipping stations, that matters.

 

Also, citing statistics that are subject to lots of revision over the coming months are bullshit on both sides. Stop it. Wait 6 months. Then let's see where these things settle in at.

 

Mark my words: If investment to Air America comes from private individuals and NOT private investment firms, I am fully confident in saying the likelihood of that being VERY risky and VERY likely to have no return is VERY high.

Edited June 23, 2004 by Stephen Joseph

[Guest MikeSC]

Heck, Air America had a sweet deal. They got publicity that NO radio show I can think of ever received before taking the air. They got pimped on NBC, the NY Times ad infinitum, etc.

 

And they couldn't draw an audience. At all.

 

They can't get affiliates to save their lives.

 

The network has shown NO signs of growth in its history and seems to be little more than a LITERAL off-shoot of the Democratic Party.

-=Mike